


The Terror of Couch-Shopping

by Hylla_Tavorian_Aldan



Series: Devildom Domesticity [2]
Category: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!
Genre: Angst angst angst angst angst, Angst at IKEA, Furniture Shopping, Homesickness, IKEA, M/M, getting lost at IKEA, shopping at ikea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:07:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25415908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hylla_Tavorian_Aldan/pseuds/Hylla_Tavorian_Aldan
Summary: Michael and Beel decide to move in together and go to IKEA to shop for a couch. Things go horribly wrong, as things always do while shopping at IKEA.
Relationships: Beelzebub (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)/Original Male Character(s), Beelzebub/Main Character (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)
Series: Devildom Domesticity [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1840885
Comments: 1
Kudos: 24





	The Terror of Couch-Shopping

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EmmAquamarine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmAquamarine/gifts).



> This was written as part of another art trade with EmmAquamarine! I would take a bullet for her, guys, she's such a good artist ;-;

Michael was in his bedroom, reading a battered copy of _Sense and Sensibility_ he’d borrowed from Satan. The door was closed, which prevented anyone from bothering him and granted Michael a moment of silence he’d rarely gotten since being whisked off to the Devildom.

It was nice.

His musings were cut short, however, when someone knocked on his door.

“Come in,” Michael called back, turning a page in his book and not bothering with getting up from where he was seated on his bed, his back up against the headboard.

The door opened, and Beel stood in the doorway, closing it behind him as he walked over to stand at the foot of Michael’s bed with his hands in his pockets.

“I found an apartment for rent near the school,” Beel informed him, causing Michael to glance up briefly from his book. “Do you want to move out of the House of Lamentation with me?”

Michael paused, then lowered his book entirely, marking his page and setting it on his nightstand as he fixated Beel with a raised brow.

“What brought this on all of a sudden?” he asked. “Moving out of the House of Lamentation is pretty out of left field, even for you, Beel.”

“Remember how I said my first dream was to have a pet chef?” Beel reminded him.

Michael’s brow went higher. “Yeah…? What about it?”

“I was thinking, if you agreed to move in with me, pay a fourth of the rent, and do all of the cooking,” he explained, “I’d pay the other three-fourths and for any ingredients you use to cook.”

Michael hummed thoughtfully, lightly scratching the scar beneath his eye as he mulled over Beel’s offer. The Avatar of Gluttony was always straightforward and, unlike the rest of his brothers, rarely had an ulterior motive. Michael didn’t doubt that was all Beel wanted from him, and the offer _was_ tempting. He’d finally be able to get away from Lucifer and Asmo, cook to his heart’s content, and get more moments of peace and quiet like the one he’d had before Beel came knocking on his door.

It was no decision at all.

“Sure, I’m down,” he replied easily. “When can we move in?”

Beel’s expression lit up like a puppy being told it was about to go on a walk, and Michael definitely didn’t feel his heart melt in his chest.

“We can go right now, if you want,” he offered. “We’ll get all of the paperwork out of the way, and then we can start looking for furniture and move in once we’re done.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Michael agreed, sliding off the bed and stretching his arms behind his head, snapping his chin to the side as he felt the tension in his spine fade along with the sharp motion. “Let’s get moving.”

The two of them were able to leave the House of Lamentation without much incident; each of the brothers was sequestered in another room of the house doing god-knows-what, so there was no one to interrogate them about their destination or insist they tag along because “somethin’ might happen to Michael on the way there, so I gotta make sure I’m there to protect him!”

Michael let Beel lead the way, seeing as although Mammon had made an offer to move out together before, Michael had never actually seen the place the Avatar of Greed had been so insistent on renting from Mahazael during his short-lived desire to partake in “the single life”. He’d never actually been to _any_ sort of residential area aside from the House of Lamentation, Purgatory Hall, and the Demon Lord’s castle, so he was more than happy to let Beel take the lead this time around.

Eventually, the two of them reached a shockingly normal-looking apartment complex (albeit with a few touches of Gothic architecture that seemed to be a staple throughout the Devildom), and Beel led them up a couple of stories until they reached the apartment in question. He opened the door, then stepped aside so Michael could enter before him and get a look at the apartment’s interior.

It was bare, but clean, with a polished wooden floor and pristine white walls, with massive windows that covered the room in moonlight. Michael ambled through the rest of the apartment, with Beel walking alongside him like a silent bodyguard, gauging Michael’s face for any sort of reaction. In addition to the living room, dining room, and kitchen, were three bedrooms and two bathrooms, presumably so Beel and Michael could each have their own room, and they’d have a spare room in case one of the brothers wanted to sleep over (most likely Belphie, in which case Michael would have to claim the room that would put Beel between him and the Avatar of Sloth).

Michael eventually found himself back in the living room, and he turned to face Beel with his arms crossed over his chest. “I like it,” he decided, giving Beel a small, but earnest smile. “And the sooner I’m able to move out of the House and start cooking in peace and quiet, the better.”

“I’m glad,” Beel replied, a smile growing on his face once more. “I’ll get the landlord so we can get the paperwork done, and then tomorrow, we can go shopping for furniture.”

“From where?” Michael asked, arching a brow at the Avatar of Gluttony.

Beel looked at Michael oddly, as though the answer was right in front of him. “IKEA, obviously.”

Michael paused. “What.”

True to Beel’s word, Michael found himself staring up at a massive IKEA store the next day, which looked identical to the ones found in the human world.

When Michael voiced these thoughts to Beel, he simply shrugged and said, “IKEA transcends the three realms.”

Michael blinked. “Wha— _how_.”

Beel offered another careless shrug. “It just does. I wouldn’t think too much about it. They have good meatballs, and that’s all I care about.”

And as the two of them entered the store, they never spoke of it again.

“So…what kinda couch do you have in mind?” Michael asked, once they reached the area of the store that left them surrounded by couches.

This time, it was Michael’s turn to walk alongside Beel, though he allowed himself to hum quietly under his breath as the two of them perused the wide selection of couches. He remained lost in thought until Beel called his name, yanking him out of his stupor as he found himself staring at what looked like a bunk bed combined with a couch.

Well, not “combined”, per se. It had the structure of a normal bunk bed, but the main detail that differentiated it from normal bunk beds was that although the top bunk was a normal bed, the bottom bunk wasn’t even an actual bed—it was a couch.

“No,” Michael replied flatly.

Beel blinked. “Why not?”

“It’s impractical!” he replied, his brow furrowing irritably as he gestured to the bed on the top bunk. “We already have three bedrooms where we’ll have to change the sheets and whatever, we don’t need _another_ bed to deal with when no one’s even going to use it!”

“Belphie might use it!” he defended, but paused for a split second as he suddenly watched Michael’s eye noticeably twitch.

“Belphie can use the guest room if he wants to sleep that badly!” he snapped. “Besides, he’s capable of falling asleep anywhere—Lucifer could hang him from the ceiling and he’d _still_ find a way to fall asleep!”

“Well, if you really dislike the couch that much, what did _you_ have in mind?” Beel asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I thought you’d never ask,” he replied curtly, before stalking in the opposite direction of the bunk bed-couch, with Beel hot on his heels. Michael eventually led Beel to another area of the greater couch area, where they eventually stood in front of a simple loveseat with a red sofa cover with white polka dots.

“…Is this it?” Beel asked incredulously. “It’s so… _boring_.”

Another brief moment of silence passed, during which Michael closed his eyes, inhaling and exhaling slowly before opening them again to meet Beel’s gaze once more with a grin that was all teeth and didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“It’s literally covered in polka dots, Beel,” he ground out. “Please, enlighten me: how is that _boring_ in any way?”

“A bunk bed couch is cooler!” he insisted. “It combines a bed and a couch into something practical _and_ comfortable!”

“Who _cares_?” Michael retorted, his pathetic attempt at a smile sliding off his face as his hands curled into fists at his sides. “It’s simple, it’s comfy, it’s practical, and I won’t have to change the damn sheets because it’s a _normal couch_.”

“You’ve been living in another plane of reality and surrounded by actual demons,” Beel reminded him bluntly. “You could stand to pick something _interesting_.”

“I don’t want something interesting, _Beel_ ,” he snarled, his fists curling even tighter as the anger in his voice continued to rise. “I just want to have one _normal_ thing in this fucking bat-shit _insane_ —”

“ _Attention shoppers, the store will be closing in one hour,_ ” a voice droned from several speakers located somewhere in the store. “ _Please make sure to vacate the premises before closing time. Thank you, and have a good day._ ”

“ _Shit_ ,” Michael cursed under his breath, his fists automatically unclenching as he began glancing around the couch area. “Shit, where are the exits?”

“Michael, hold on,” Beel began, taking a cautious step towards the human in question.

“Beel, whatever it is, can it wait? _Please_?” Michael asked, his expression torn between furious and pleading as he glared half-heartedly up at Beel.

Several emotions flickered through Beel’s eyes all at once, despite the stoniness the rest of his expression possessed. His expression did eventually relax after a few moments, and he nodded slightly in response to Michael’s request.

“Yeah. Let’s get out of here,” he said with a small smile.

Michael’s shoulders sagged by a microscopic amount, before jerking his head to the side and saying, “Let’s get going.”

Beel nodded slightly, and the two of them began making their way out of the couch area. He’d try to get Michael to open up about it later, when he wasn’t so agitated. He hadn’t realized Michael would get so worked up over a _couch_ , of all things. The only question he had now was _why_? It was more than just changing sheets, he knew that much.

However, he was yanked out of his thoughts when he heard Michael suddenly inform him, “Uh, Beel? I think we’re lost.”

Beel glanced around the store, and true to Michael’s word, although they’d made it out of the couch area, they were now in an entirely new and unfamiliar part of the store, surrounded by brightly colored knick-knacks and more furniture.

“You’re right,” he replied, putting a thoughtful hand to his chin. “If we don’t get back soon, the others are going to start worrying about us.”

“I’ll see if I can find a map somewhere,” Michael muttered, making a move to brush past Beel. However, before he could get very far, he felt the Avatar of Gluttony place a hand on his shoulder, prompting him to look up at him with a raised brow. His unconcerned demeanor was lessened, however, when Beel saw tears pricking at the corners of his eyes.

“Can we talk?” Beel asked quietly. “Please?”

“What’s there to talk about?” he shot back. “It’s just a couch, we’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it,” he replied flatly. “It’s not just about the couch, is it.”

“Well, who said it wasn’t?” Michael snapped, crossing his arms defiantly over his chest.

“You’re dodging the question.”

“Because I don’t wanna answer it!”

“But if you don’t tell me what’s bothering you, I can’t help you fix it,” he pressed.

“I don’t _want_ your help!” he yelled. “I want—”

_I want to go home._

_I want to see my family again._

_I want to see Dot again._

Michael felt his throat close up before he could finish his sentence, and he clenched his jaw so tightly it was almost painful.

“I didn’t _ask_ to be chosen as an exchange student, remember?” he muttered. “I was just yanked out of my home and dropped into the Devildom without any prior warning. ”

 _Oh_. Guilt gnawed at Beel’s chest. Michael was definitely comfortable in the Devildom now, and was on good terms with his brothers, but it was easy to forget he’d been brought here against his will, and that he most likely had friends and family back in the human world who noticed he was gone.

Did that couch remind Michael of something—of _someone_? Was that why he was so adamant about getting it? Knowing him, he wouldn’t be the most inclined to tell Beel anything while he was so agitated, but for now…

Beel wrapped his arms around Michael, feeling him stiffen in his embrace for a moment, and then slowly relaxing as he squeezed his eyes shut to try and blink back his tears.

“Sorry I was so insensitive earlier,” Beel murmured. “I should’ve noticed something was off sooner.”

“It’s fine, really; don’t worry about it,” Michael replied, patting Beel somewhat awkwardly on the back before pulling away and giving him a faint, but earnest smile. “You couldn’t have known, but…thanks for apologizing.”

“I should be thanking _you_ for forgiving me,” he replied with an earnest smile of his own. “Who knew shopping for a couch would be so stressful—”

“Hey! What are you two still doing here?” an unfamiliar voice asked behind them. They turned around, and were met with a demon dressed in a security guard’s uniform. “It’s ten minutes to closing time, nearly everyone’s left the store!”

“Uh, we got lost,” Michael replied awkwardly, averting his eyes as he jabbed a finger towards Beel. “We were looking for a couch.”

“Oh yeah, I totally get it,” the guard reassured them. “It’s like a rite of passage whenever a couple decides to move in together; my girlfriend and I took _weeks_ just to find one we could both agree on.”

Michael made a choked noise at the back of his throat. “Wait, no we’re not! We’re just friends I swear, there’s really nothing else to it—”

“We’re in no rush, we’ll decide eventually,” Beel reassured the security guard with a reassuring smile, who merely raised an eyebrow at Michael’s panicked refutations. “Anyway, could you help us find our way out of the store?”

“Of course,” the guard said with a polite nod, before gesturing for the two of them to follow him out of the section they were currently in.

It didn’t take long for the three of them to reach the exit, and once they did, they thanked the guard and began the walk home. Night had already fallen by the time they left the store, and both the walk through the store and the one back to the House of Lamentation was spent in comfortable silence.

Once they reached the gates of the house, Beel went to unlock the door, only for Michael to suddenly take his hand in his.

“…Thanks again,” he said, giving Beel another tiny smile once he had the demon’s attention. “And…sorry for making a scene back there. I do wanna go back home, but…the Devildom’s been pretty good to me. I can’t wait to move in with you.”

Despite everything that’d happened that day, Beel felt his chest grow warm, and he gave Michael a bright smile and gently nudged his shoulder with his own. “Me too.”

And with that, Beel unlocked the door, and the two of them went inside to greet the rest of the brothers.

Couch-shopping could wait. Just for tonight.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
